Bankrupt
by Ann T. Septic
Summary: Greece goes bankrupt, and needs a little bit of a cash infusion to keep going. Begging at house doors ensues. Eventual GreecexJapan. Human and country names interchanged. Rated T for swearing and pairings.
1. America

Heracles looked down at the account summary of his assets. He had panicked when he had first seen the complicated forms, before one of the government officials of his country had simplified it for him. Simply put, Greece was so close to bankruptcy that they might as well be. Heracles had gotten a call from his boss earlier that day, informing him that though they were going to do their best to get out of bankruptcy at home with new laws and measures and programs, he was going to do a little something too. Oh, it was nothing harmful to any part of Heracles, except maybe his pride, no, but his pride had taken such a beating lately that it was sure to have bruises or something on it by now, if it was tangible. He was going to have to beg. Well, as he liked to put it, "Ask nicely" for money from the other nations.

First up was America, who he did not really know that well, but who was on his list all the same. Pausing hesitantly, Heracles sucked up his pride and knocked on the door of America's house. For a few moments there was nothing except the vague pounding of a beat in the background before a younger girl opened the door. Sound poured out from behind her, and Heracles said that he wanted to speak to Alfred. She nodded, and shut the door quietly, the deafening racket slightly muted. Heracles wondered why so much noise was coming from America's house, until he remembered just how many people lived in his house. As he was counting them, Alfred opened the door. Again bass beats poured out of the door, and Heracles craned his neck to see where it was coming from. Were those… Strobe lights? Noticing Greece's questioning look, America quickly shut the door and grinned at him. "Yeah, what is it, Greece?" He asked.

Heracles cleared his throat and absentmindedly stroked one of the cats who were currently trailing him. "Well, actually…" He trailed off, ashamed. At Alfred's impatient look, Greece continued, "Can I borrow some money?" He finally said. This was shameful, he shouldn't have been the first Euro country to go down. It should have been, well, he didn't know who, but it shouldn't have been him!

America was frantically dialing at his cell phone, making calls until he finally got to his boss. He murmured some unintelligible words to him, then snapped the phone shut triumphantly. "All right Greece! My boss says it's fine as long as you're making sufficient cutbacks at your place, so here's yo-" America's phone rang again, startling him as he was reaching for his wallet. He glanced apologetically at Greece, and Heracles shrugged, it did not matter to him whether or not Alfred took a call right now. America turned around again after a few minutes, with a frown on his face this time. "Sorry Greece." He said, "But I just got a call from my boss, and some of the other nations don't think you need it, and so we're not sure what we're gonna do. Could you come back later?" Heracles knew what that meant. No money for him right now.

Ahh well, it was to be expected, America had his own looming deficit to worry about. Heracles picked up his cats and continued down the street. Maybe some of the European countries could give him a loan or something.


	2. America's neighbor?

Greece stopped in front of a surprisingly large, cherry-red house with snow on the roof. Wondering who lived in the house, he stepped forward onto the doormat, before getting the sense that nobody was home. He stepped back and sighed, of course, it would just be his luck that such a nice-looking house was empty right when he needed it to be full. He picked up the cat he'd placed on the ground so as to ring the doorbell, and started walking away, he would have to visit some of his neighbors after all. He casually walked down the broad avenue, occasionally yawning sleepily, as a slight breeze floated past, Heracles thought he caught the sound of somebody screaming, "Goddammit!" He shrugged, America's area was acknowledged in its weirdness.


	3. Espana y Dinero

_**AN: **__The chapters of this story are going to be fairly short, since I'm going to try and break it up to one country per chapter, but there should be a fair amount of them, so please don't give up on this story because the chapters are short! Also, reviews would be amazing! Also, I apologize for the lack of accent marks in Spain's speech, whenever I tried to put them into my word-processor it crashed. Reviews? :D_

_As Greece took a left turn down Europe Avenue, he yawned again. All this walking was making him sleepy and he just wanted to finish up for a while so that he could take a nap. As Heracles headed to the first house he saw, that happened to be Antonio's, he felt like he was forgetting something. He stroked his cat again, and shrugged. He was sure it would sort itself out. Heracles walked up the path to Spain's home, to the yellow door that contrasted nicely with the brick red house and looked around interestedly before knocking. Heracles was almost jealous of the Spaniard's lush green lawn and crowded sandstone birdbath. Greece was also impressed with the sheer amount of tomato plants that Antonio had crammed into his front yard._

_After he knocked Greece was again left to wait on the doorstep for a few moments, though this time there was at least some warning before somebody opened the door. He heard thudding footsteps come to the door, and then a few seconds later, after the footsteps receded, he heard, "It's that damn sleepy cat bastard! Fuck! I'm outta here!" Then a crash that sounded like broken glass, and a, "Lovi--!" Before the door swung open and a Spain pulling on his shirt came into view. Antonio pretended to be surprised, "Oh, Senor Greece! Bienvenido, come in!" Greece stepped through the doorway into the warmth of Antonio's home and observed that there was a broken window in his kitchen. He smiled when he saw a small figure sprinting away from the house through the fields. "I apologize for any untidiness, you caught me in the middle of my siesta." Spain smiled sheepishly when he said this, and Heracles thought that he could detect a faint blush on the tan man's cheeks._

"_No, no, it's fine." Greece said, pulling up a chair. He and Antonio chatted for a bit, about the weather, and football teams and the like. Eventually, though, Greece got to the point, "Say, Antonio, could you maybe lend me some money? I'm in the hole a bit right now. And cutting back at home just isn't going to do it for me completely." He stopped at Antonio's face. It was some weird combination of incredulity and shock and sadness and trying not to laugh. Then he gave in to the last one and guffawed a bit while Greece sat and stared questioningly at him._

"_I'm sorry, Senor Greece, it's just that I'm in debt almost as much as you, if not more, from importing so much of Lovi's goods, and things. I shouldn't laugh, but I'm almost to the point that you are. I'll do my best to help you out if you really need the money though!" Greece smiled slightly and nodded, and they chatted for a while longer about trivial things before Antonio sent him off with a tomate in his hand. As Heracles was heading out the door he saw Spain pick up his phone and dial a number as if committed to memory. When the other person picked up he began apologizing profusely in Spanish. Heracles smiled and shut the door, hoping he hadn't caused too much trouble in Spain's life, he didn't need any more right now, from the sound of things._


	4. Geld? Gib mir dein haar zuerst

As Greece walked down the small, but fairly crowded street, he decided on an austere brown house next. As if to ensure that intruders did not step on his (remarkably well-kept) lawn, there was a knee-high barbed wire fence around Germany's front yard. Greece, completely ignoring this, lazily stepped over the fence and walked straight through Germany's yard, swerving to avoid an oak tree in the center. He almost felt bad for leaving such a trail of footprints through the German's lawn, but he really couldn't be bothered to walk _all the way _around such a large yard on the hard concrete. Glancing back, he saw that the otherwise perfect green patch had a swath cut through it, the grass was trampled, having been stepped on by Heracles and his feline followers. Wincing slightly, Greece pulled the black cord hanging next to the door and bells echoed through the well-built house.

Stomps approached the door, and moments later it was swung open by a blond-haired, blue-eyed man, who looked a bit angry about something. But then, when didn't Germany look angry? Of course, it wasn't often that you saw an angry man who was also wearing an apron that read, "Kuss der Koch" with a small Italian flag below it. Noticing Greece's looks, Germany angrily tore off the offending apron, and said, "What is it Greece?" Then he saw the lawn behind the sleepy-eyed Greek. "What is this? First you interrupt ou- my cooking, and then you tramp across my lawn?! Have some respect!"

Greece thought that maybe this wasn't the best time to ask Germany for money. But, he had to, his president had been very clear on that. Greece yawned and cleared his throat, "Sorry about that." He said, gesturing behind him, "Uhh, say, you don't suppose I could borrow some money, do you?" Seeing the look of disgust on Germany's face and the motion of him stepping back to slam the door in Greece's face, Greece hurriedly continued, "Well, you see, you're so rich, and I'm making cutbacks at home, but I really, really just need a little money before I can be fine. Please?" To ensure that Ludwig didn't follow through on his thought to shut the door, Greece stepped inside hurriedly. Germany sighed.

"I suppose you'd better come in then." He said resignedly. He picked up his apron from the ground, and walked back into the kitchen.

"Thank you." Heracles said as he followed Ludwig into the warmly colored kitchen. There was a pot of water on the stove with pasta in it, and a pan of tomato sauce was next to it. Feliciano was stirring both of the pots. Simultaneously. Nobody said that that boy was bad at cooking, just everything else.

"Hey~ Heracles! It's so nice to see you!" Feliciano immediately dropped both spoons and ran over to where Greece was standing to hug him. Greece patted him awkwardly on the head, especially when he saw Germany's glare directed at him. After a hug that Greece would have had end much sooner than it had, Feliciano went back to the stove and immediately picked up where he'd left off, only this time he was chopping mushrooms with one hand while stirring. Heracles paused for a moment, thoroughly impressed with the otherwise irresponsible man's cooking skill.

"Anyway." Greece began again, "Could I please borrow some money, Germany?"

Germany looked like he was considering for a minute or two, debating back and forth in his head, most likely. "How about you just sell me some of your uninhabited islands instead?" He asked ambitiously.

Greece's mouth fell open in a rare display of shock. "W-what?" The tan Greek grabbed his hair where said islands were located. "I'm using this hair! And those islands! No way!"

Germany looked disappointed. "It was worth a try." He stared off into space again, considering all the factors. Finally, just as Heracles had been about to fall asleep, Ludwig said, "Well, we have an election coming up soon, so I might be changing bosses, and my current boss, she probably won't do much because of that. But, if you really need it, we can vote on it and probably give you some aid. With interest of course."

Heracles grinned sleepily. "Thank you so much Germany." He said, "You two have fun making your…pasta. I know the way out." And with that, the brown eyed man in the loose tan jacket and tight white t-shirt walked unceremoniously out of Germany's house.

AN: Is it just me or are these chapters getting longer? XD Germany did actually want to buy Greece's uninhabited islands, and Greece did really say, "NO." However, I don't know if Germany was making pasta while doing so. Also, Germany's apron is supposed to read "kiss the cook", but as I don't speak a bit of German, I used Google translate, any better translations?


	5. He really is an old delinquent

**As Heracles walked outside again, he yawned. He was seriously going to need a nap soon. Could he nap at somebody's house? No, that would be rude. He continued walking down the street anyway. **_**After this house… **_**Greece promised himself. **_**Just wait until I'm done here… **_**After bypassing a few houses, deciding that he would go back later, Greece finally settled on a rather plain house. Yes, the house was perfectly normal, it was the lawn that was odd. The thing was positively covered with decorations of every sort, from birdbaths and garden gnomes, to an enormous concrete unicorn fountain. Greece smiled slightly when he saw a concrete imitation of one of his mother's sculptures. For some reason people liked to put them in their yards. Walking around the lawn this time, Greece knocked on the wooden door.**

**Now that he was closer, the house was fairly old, and it almost looked like it had been downsized a few times, it just had a few awkward angles and protruding rooms that made it seem like that. Overall though, if you ignored the lawn, it seemed like a nice house. Greece had barely knocked before the door swung open. "Greece?" Was the blond man's first word, shortly followed by, "Come in, come in. it wouldn't be gentlemanly of me to leave you standing out there." A few seconds later Greece was seated across from England at a wooden table.**

**England was holding a ceramic teapot, and asked, "Would you like a cup of tea?" Remembering past experiences with England's cuisine, Heracles vigorously shook his head no. England persisted though, and proffered the pot again, "Are you sure?" Heracles shook his head. "Positive?" Another head shake. "Well, all right then…" England sat back in his chair and took a porcelain cup, plopping two sugar cubes and a bit of cream into it before pouring the black tea into the cup. After taking a sip, he looked a bit more relaxed, and asked, "Now, what's this visit about anyway, Greece? Don't tell me you want to borrow another one of my recipes to serve to Turkey? I mean, I know their good, but still…" England trailed off and Greece's stern face.**

"**England, I came here to ask if I could, you know, uh, borrow some money?" Greece asked carefully. Despite the Greek's gentle tone, England was set off.**

"**Borrow some money**? Who do you think I am, that wanker **Switzerland?" By this point England had smashed his teacup down on the floor, and ground it into dust beneath his heel. So, as impressive as his red-cheeked British-punk fury was, it was slightly spoiled by his standing in a puddle of tea. In Greece's sleep-deprived state (he hadn't had a nap in, something like two hours!) this was hilarious, and as such, he began to laugh slightly. England thought that there was nothing funny about this, and spluttered. "You think that this is funny? Just wait until I get my wand!" England marched upstairs determinedly, apparently trying to sound threatening.**

**Greece decided that it would be a good time to exit England's house. He walked out of the kitchen and shut the front door as quietly as he could, in this case very, very quietly. Japan had been showing him some of his martial arts training, and being as quiet as possible had been part of it. Greece walked back onto the street, and spotting a large tree, walked over to it, stretched out with his cats, and promptly fell asleep.**

**AN: Somebody said that I should do England next, so here he is… I'm pretty sure I failed miserably with this, but oh well. *shrugs* At least I know that my translations won't be off XD I apologize for the shortness, but I don't apologize for lack of England-pairings :D I just have a really hard time pairing him with anybody~ Anyway, reviews are love!**


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